78 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FARMER’S PAPER 
A Notional Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established isso 
Pnblish 'i weekly by the H 11 r. 1 l Pnblisiiinc Company, 838 West 80tb Street, Kew York 
Hebrkut W. Coli.inoWOOD, President and Editor. 
John J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mrs. E. T. Hoyle, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. ;;2.0l, equal to 8s. 6d., or 
8Ji marks, or francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates 60 cents per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. But to make doubly sure we will make good any loss to paid 
subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising in our 
oolumns, and any such swindler will be publicly exposed. Wo protect sub. 
scribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee' to adjust trifling ditfei-ences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. Neither will wo bo 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one month of the time of 
the transaction, and you must have mentioned The Rural New-Yorker 
when writing the advertiser. 
TEN WEEKS FOR 10 CENTS. 
In order to maintain the improvement and enlarge¬ 
ments that we are now planning for The R. N.-Y., we 
should have a circulation of 200.000 copies weekly. 
We must depend on our old friends for this increase. 
To make it easy for these friends to introduce the 
paper to other farmers who do not now take it we 
will send it 10 weeks for 10 cents for strictly intro¬ 
ductory purposes. We will appreciate the interest 
of friends who help make up the needed increase of 
subscriptions. 
* 
Come all ye agriculturists 
And listen unto me. 
You want to study up in A, 
But practice down in Z. 
For up upon the heights of A 
Pure science may be found, 
But in the valley down in Z 
Men practice on the ground. 
Fill up your mind, fill up your heart, 
With all that A can give. 
And then translate it down to Z 
Where common people live. 
Some men go climbing up to A, 
And drink from wisdom’s cup. 
And then forget their solemn vow 
To help their brother up. 
And others from the springs at A, 
Take wisdom in their baud, 
And o’er the lowly vale of Z 
Translate it through the land. 
They sow the patient seed of thought. 
The germs of truth they cast 
Into the dust of prejudice 
And dead soil of the past. 
Yes, those who tarry up at A 
Will h:n r e a pleasant time, 
But those who labor back in Z 
Can make their lives sublime. 
* 
Can you tell us anything definite about the use 
of gasoline or kerosene engines for plowing or culti¬ 
vating? A number of such machines have been 
tried, but it is uot always easy to obtain fair, un¬ 
prejudiced truth about the work they do. It is evi¬ 
dent that in some situations the gasoline horse is a 
success. What soil or slope or surface does he need 
to make him profitable? Now will those of our 
readers who have given these tractors a fair trial 
tell us just what they have found out? 
* 
Considerable trouble from leaf-curl on peach 
trees is reported from New Jersey. It seems to be 
due to the fact that growers failed to spray with 
lime sulphate before the leaf buds made some 
growth. This gave the fungus a chance to take hold 
inside of the leaves. Then of course it was impos¬ 
sible for the spray to reach the disease germs and 
destroy them. There will be much more of this 
trouble during the coming season, and thorough 
early spraying must be done to fight off the disease. 
* 
We have already mentioned Farmers’ Week at 
Cornell, February 10-15. This gathering has come 
to be a great Winter event for New York farmers. 
The programme this season is better and more 
varied than ever, and there will be a hearty and 
eager crowd of farmers and their friends. Even if 
you do not attend a single lecture you will he more 
than repaid by mingling with this great company, 
hunting old friends and making new ones. You not 
only benefit yourself, but you will help farming gen¬ 
erally by helping to make a great company for agri¬ 
cultural education. 
* 
During the year we have at least 500 cases where 
trouble has arisen over a loose contract, or where 
some verbal agreement has been made. Two parties 
agree to do certain things, or one lends another 
money on a verbal promise to pay. After a time 
business does uot turn out as one party expected, 
and he repudiates the contract, or claims that it has 
a different meaning from what the other asserts. 
Then they find that the contract is not binding any 
way. One man lends money to another without any 
note or obligation, and finds that ne cannot collect 
T IT I£ RURAL NEW-YORKER 
it. Our advice invariably is to have contracts drawn 
up by a lawyer, or by some first-class business man 
who knows how to do it. There is no othey safe 
way. As for lending money without notes or obliga¬ 
tion, Ex-President Taft, who is now teaching law 
at Yale, is credited with this story. A lent money 
tc B, hut took no written note to prove It. B repu¬ 
diated the debt and claimed it was a gift. At the 
trial A swore he lent the money, but had no wit¬ 
ness to support him and no written statement, so 
he lost his case. Shortly afterward A saw B on the 
street and rushed up to him saying there were four 
witnesses to prove B took the money. ‘‘Who are 
they?’’ said B. “Me and God and you and the 
devil.” This was true, and yet, even with this 
formidable list of witnesses, A could not prove his 
case before a human jury. A drop of ink well 
distributed at,the point of a pen would have saved 
this money. 
* 
“If anyone thinks he can tell me how to grow better 
crops, I am willing to listen to him,” said one farmer. 
“If liis plan appeals to my judgment, I will give it a 
good trial on my farm. If anyone has a new way of 
doing something that is better than my old way, I 
want to find out about it.” 
That report comes from Kansas where, it is 
said gray-bearded men are taking a short course at 
the agricultural college. What is the matter with 
that sentiment? Here is a man who has run a farm 
so as to make more than a living. Who has now a 
better right to use his judgment in deciding whether 
agricultural science is sensible? If the agricultural 
teacher cannot appeal to that man’s judgment, 
which needs training, the judgment or the teacher? 
* 
Some of our people are a little troubled over the 
future market for hay. They are ready to seed 
down more and more of the farm, but the hay 
buyers predict low prices and stagnation. It is the 
tld argument—gasoline power taking the place of 
horses. We might take more stock in this argu¬ 
ment if we had not heard it continually for 20 years. 
We knew this city when every street car was hauled 
by horses, and the application of gasoline power to 
motors was unheard of. Now there are hardly 100 
street car horses left, and motor trucks are every¬ 
where. Yet prices for both good horses and good 
hay are higher than ever, and are likely to con¬ 
tinue so for 10 years. We must remember that the 
introduction of “certified milk” has started great 
dairies on high-priced land near the big cities. The 
hay for feeding these cows is mostly purchased, 
and this demand will greatly increase in the future. 
* 
There was a struggle at Albany over amendments 
to the rules in the Assembly. The progressive ele¬ 
ment in all the parties wanted to cut down the 
autocratic power of the Speaker. This power has 
been usually exercised through committees. An 
effort was made to take the power of appointing 
committees away from the Speaker and give the 
Assembly the right to elect the chairmen at least. 
This suggestion was defeated, but several reforms 
were made. We can know hereafter just how the 
members of committees vote. The committee must 
meet regularly and we are on the way to the point 
where a reasonable number of Assemblymen can 
compel a committee to act and where the so-called 
committee on rules cannot use arbitrary power to 
hold up needed bills or advance personal measures. 
Such reforms would have been impossible 10 years 
ago. The “folks back home” have found the way to 
Albany. 
* 
William Waldorf Astor was born in this country, 
and with the rest of his family has profited greatly 
by the rise in American real estate without giving 
any particular labor iu return. Mr. Astor gave up 
liis American citizenship and became an English 
subject. No one can reasonably find fault with this, 
for thousands of Englishmen have become Ameri¬ 
cans, and if any man is not satisfied with this 
country both are benefited by his leaving it.. Mr. 
Astor’s young son has been in this country for a 
short visit and as he started back, he was “inter¬ 
viewed.” 
“What of the things you’ve seen in America do you 
like best, Bill?” said an interviewer. 
“An apple. I)o you want to see it?” Bill disap¬ 
peared into the stateroom and returned with a big 
rosy apple in his hands. “They don’t grow like that 
where I live,” he commented. 
It was probably a Wiuesap or a Baldwin. This 
young man seems to have taken something straight 
from his old ancestor, John Jacob Astor, who had 
such remarkable ability at seeing values and select¬ 
ing almost by instinct the important things of life. 
A century ago John Jacob would have said 
furs when asked such a question. “Bill” sees in the 
big red apple the one desirable thing of life. It 
seems to us that there is great hope for “Bill.” 
January IT, 
The meeting of the New York State Fruit Grow¬ 
ers’ Association at Rochester was a great success as 
usual. Wlieu this society branched off from the old 
Western New York Society there were many who 
felt that there could not he room for the two. The 
business of fruit growing and selling has developed 
so wonderfully that these predictions have been dis¬ 
proved. Both societies call out crowds of fruit grow¬ 
ers and vast displays of fruit and fruit growing ap¬ 
pliances which were undreamed of wnen the younger 
society started. These meetings cover such a vast 
range that it is quite impossible to give an adequate 
report of the proceedings. Of late years, with great¬ 
er attention given to the mechanical or business side 
of the industry, the speaking programme is no long¬ 
er tlie most important feature. The best part is the 
unreportable visiting and conversation which goes on 
when fruit growers come together for conference. 
As evidence of the way those meetings are changing 
the banquet was given up this year and a “popular 
entertainment”, substituted. 
* 
No use talking, this poultry business is developing 
so fast that you can hardly keep track of it. On 
page 97 we are told about “Miracle Mary.” This 
Leghorn hen was too busy laying eggs to put on 
fancy points. So the poultry judge turned up his 
l'.ose and said “everything” was the matter with 
her. Then comes Mr. Proctor in his excellent article. 
It seems that the American Poultry Association has 
finally got down near the ground, and will start 
a “utility” score. Now follows Prof. Dryden with 
his remarks on that world’s champion hen. This 
hen is a mixture of Rock and Leghorn blood, and 
Prof. Dryden puts up an argument for trap-nesting 
the breeding stock. We felt sure that just this 
form of discussion would follow the egg-laying con¬ 
tests. These contests give the facts upon which 
to base definite experiments, both in breeding and 
feeding for egg production. There is no end to the 
things which these contests suggest. One is the 
cold storage proposition. Then comes Peter Radford 
of Texas, with some large statements: 
We market 05 per cent, of our egg crop in April, 
May and June, although the consumption of eggs runs 
very nearly even throughout the entire year. The 
American farmer to-day is paying the middleman the 
princely sum of $238,000,000 per annum for storing 
and selling his eggs. This sum of money would build 
and equip sufficient storage to care for the agricultural 
production of the nation. The value of the nation’s 
egg production during a decade is equivalent in value 
to all the farm property iu Texas; would build a city 
the size of St. Louis and would pay the national debt 
of Spain, Japan and the United States combined. 
These figures may be correct—we do not know. 
They are large enough anyway, but the poultry 
contests have matched the warm American hen 
against the cold storage. A. M. Pollard, who has 
charge of the latest contest, has another guess: 
Cold storage of eggs sprang into existence through 
the failure of the American to so adjust nature to his 
needs, that the egg demand could be supplied at ail 
seasons, and cold, storage is a blessing if rightly em¬ 
ployed, but the destructive features of its employment, 
so far as price fixing goes, can be quickly overcome 
by adjusting the flock yield of egg farms. 
liis scheme is to breed from selected hens who 
arc known to lay during the Fall, and to hatch so 
they will start early. It has been found that cer¬ 
tain hens do make a business of Winter laying, while 
others lay later. This means keeping the “Business 
Hen” busy. It keeps her out of mischief, and the 
cold storage man as well. 
BREVITIES. 
A farm planned in January is half cultivated. 
We know men who think they are “some pumpkins,” 
when in reality they are mostly punk. 
You will probably find feather pulling confined to 
a few liens in the flock. If you can catch them at it— 
better kill them. 
Our young apple and peach trees began to wake up 
during the warm Fall. The wood is too tender for 
comfortable Winter reflections. 
It is reported that 70 farmers and their sons are 
taking the short course in steam and gas engines at 
the Kansas Agricultural College. 
It is said to be a fact that some of the sanitary 
back-to-the-landers actually use talking machines in 
the cow barn during milking to sootho the cows. 
We think that Winter pruning should be delayed 
until early Spring this year in particular. The wood 
is soft and tender, and quite likely to kill back after 
pruning. In such cases double pruning would be neces¬ 
sary. 
The dog shown at Fig. 12 last week is a brindle 
bull terrier guarding the chicken house at Fithiau 
Farm, New Jersey. He has the run of the yards at 
night and is about as friendly to a chicken thief as a 
shotgun. 
A year ago large stories were told about the profits 
of fox farming in the Yukon Territory. Now the boom 
seems to have flattened out. Disease has swept off the 
captive foxes. One young black fox, costing $1,(>00, 
died five days after putting him in the pen. At this 
rate the Hope Farm man’s scrub hens w Q re more 
profitable. 
